Month: February 2022

“Find what you are good at and pour gasoline on it. Then light a match.”

In a game of 1 on 1 basketball, who would win Jordan or Phelps? Of course, MJ would, he would beat Phelps 11–0. Phelps would never get a shot off.

In a swimming competition, who would win? Duh, Phelps would dust MJ.

The point of the aforementioned examples is to point out that these 2 athletes are considered on par some of the best athletes in human history. But it is only at their niche. If we were to ask them to race Bolt they would lose before they knew what hit them.

Do what you are innately and uniquely great at. You can be good in lots of things however you would arguably only achieve greatness in the lane you are naturally talented in.

Go be great.

“Shut up and shoot. Stop pussyfooting.”

We sometimes spend too much time and energy researching and lining up our shots. This isn’t to say research and proper due diligence isn’t important, on the contrary, it can be paramount to avoid catastrophe. I’m saying we spend all our time analyzing, thinking, tinkering, research, sleeping on it, etc., etc. blah, blah, blah and we never act. It’s exhausting. And it’s from fear of failure.

You’re gonna mess up. You’re gonna fail. Sometimes in the most epic ways. But the important thing is to shoot the shot. Imagine if Michael Jordan spent all his time analyzing the perfect angle to shoot a jump shot. Perfecting the way he jumped. Mastering the art of his fadeaway. But he never actually shot the ball…he wouldn’t be Michael Jordan.

Stop worrying so much about the 1% that can go wrong. There is never a way to mitigate 100% of the risk. You’ll never have all the information. You have to learn how to act with 70% or hell sometimes 60% of the information. The best leaders learn how to trust their gut and have the confidence to see their actions through.

After a certain point, the best mentor is experience. And the only way to get that is to shut up and shoot the shot.

“If you pay attention, you will see where the opportunity is.”

Recently I read Sam Zell’s Am I Being Too Subtle. In it, he repeatedly emphasized, “When others are looking right, go left.” In today’s economy, there are a number of opportunities hiding in plain sight that go unnoticed by many who are looking to turn one dollar into three dollars.

Are you aware we are witnessing many legacy businesses trade hands? Private equity and hedge funds have made a killing buying and selling legacy businesses. What if I told you the average main street investor can copy these techniques? There is $30 trillion in assets transferring right now from Baby Boomers to subsequent generations. A lot of that wealth is tied up in small businesses (think plumbing, HVAC, and other small businesses).

In addition, many small businesses fail within the first 5 years. A main street investor can buy into a business and from day one, have cash flow coming in as opposed to starting from 0. It’s much easier to go from 1-2 than it is to go from 0-1. Meaning it’s much harder to start and business and make it profitable than it would be to buy a mature business and increasing revenue. Capital makes everything easier.

There is a bull case for small business acquisitions. The vast majority of these small businesses will be unfit for acquisition, no question about it. However, if you go on any golf course midday during the workweek, you’ll find it filled with small businesses that own their own business.